TSW 2018: Digital Transformation & The Customer Experience

Last week the Bold360 team ventured off to Las Vegas for the Technology & Services World Conference. For those who may not be familiar, TSIA holds this event twice a year, as a way to get our community together to network, share ideas and learn about the latest industry trends. It’s usually a really great event — with CX leaders from the world’s best brands discussing challenges and opportunities — and this year was no exception.

Not surprisingly a lot of the conversation was focused on digital transformation for the customer experience. While Digital Transformation is a big and broad category, throughout all the sessions and conversations I was a part of, I noticed 3 recurring themes:

AI is Becoming a Critical Part of Digital Transformation: AI has been around for decades but it’s finally matured to a place where it’s ready for primetime. Businesses are looking at AI as a competitive differentiator. We had a number of attendees swing by our booth to talk about AI, and specifically how Bold360 , can drive value for their business. While we work with great brands every day to deliver AI-powered customer engagement, it was enlightening to see how many companies are just getting started on their AI journey.

Customers Want Self-Service: We are all used to the instant gratification we get by having access to the world in our pockets. While phone is still an integral support channel, more and more customers start by trying to find answers themselves. It’s important for companies to make intelligent self-service accessible to customers to keep them happy, but it can also reduce costs by freeing up human support agents to handle some of the higher value interactions and inquiries.

There is a Need to Keep Up with New Digital Channels: In years past, it was imperative that companies had a website and had good presence on social sites like Facebook and Twitter. While those channels haven’t gone away, there are new channels popping up every day that customers are using to engage. WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, video chat and even text are becoming the norm as ways customers prefer to communicate with businesses. It can often feel like a never-ending game of whack-a-mole as companies try to keep up. And it’s not just about supporting these channels, but also ensuring they are integrated together so regardless of the channel, the customer gets a consistent and seamless experience.

It was encouraging to hear that many of challenges that companies are facing when it comes to customer engagement are the exact roadblocks that we solving with Bold360. Customer’s expectations are changing at a faster rate than ever, and brands that can keep up are the ones that will win in the end.